Tips on feeding PLEASE

[Mel-2k6]

my daughter is 9 months old, started on solids at 4months. the problem is she seems to hate food. started by only giving her home made food which she just wasn't interested in at all (thought it might of been my cooking which ain't that great) so started buying pre made food and she's not interested in that either, it can take up to 30Min's just to get her to eat 2 spoonsfull. health vistor didn't seem to think it was too much of a problem to begin with but now shes loosing weight. don't have a clue how to get her to start eating ! can any give any tips on what to do ? really starting to get worried about it.

[Marisa's Mom]

It sounds like your LO is still not really interested in solids. Keep trying but don't make a big deal out of it if she still isn't interested. She will let you know when she is interested. She will also show interest in what you're eating when she sees you eating.

We started introducing solids to DD sometime around 4 or 5 months too. When we first started, it was not a daily thing. We would offer some watery baby cereal (Gerber rice cereal, Gerber oatmeal cereal). She would refuse it or show she wasn't interested. So we didn't push it. Then we'd wait a week or two before trying again. Still not interested. Ok, wait another week or two before trying again. We were in no big rush knowing that she'll let us know what she wants and when she wants it.

DD didn't show interest in food until she was 10 to 11 months old, when we would offer solids once daily. Her main source of nutrition was still breast milk. I would suggest continuing with her normal breastfeeding or fomula feeding, and just insert one early solids meal (watered down baby cereal) in between two regular bf/formula feeding. We gradually (over weeks, not days) increased the "thickness" of her baby cereal. When starting solids, you're really just getting your LO acquainted with the idea of solids, the use of a spoon, and teh new textures in her mouth.  Once we got comfortable with the one solids feeding (which was in the evening), we added another solids feeding during the day. So breastfeeding sessions were the same, just inserted solids midday and evening.

[Mrs. Gravy]

It sounds like maybe she just isn't ready for solids yet.

Continue to make breast milk or formula her main source of nutrition.  Let her sit at the table with your family when you have dinner, and offer her a few pieces of banana or something.  If she eats it, fine.  If not, no big deal.

She'll eat when she's ready.  Some babies don't even start solids until a year, so it's really not a concern as long as she's still getting lots of milk/formula.

[shelliz]

Hi there!

    Where do you feed your baby? Have you always fed her in her highchair? I am asking b/c my daughter actually began to get really frustruated in her highchair when I was feeding her. She pretty much totally quit eating. I could also only get in one or two spoonfuls (and FORGET offering a new food). I then took her out of the highchair and began feeding her in a different location for a while. She started eating again immediately! I think there may have been a couple of times where I poked the spoon into her mouth (just to get the taste of a new food on her tounge) and she got REALLY mad. From that point on she has a bad "taste in her mouth"  (literally)when it came to eating in her highchair. I am working now on getting her comfortable w/ eating pureed solids again. She is doing great and I plan to move her back into her highchair soon. It was just a thought. I have done so much reading on solids now (after I messed up!!  ) and I know that you should never ever force them to try anything. If they don't like something, offer it the next day...but don't force it. When they seem full...don't try and "get in" another bite. This may be obvious to some.... but I tried it only a few times and it really gave her a bad impression of being in her highchair.  Not sure of your situation...but maybe this could shed some light.  If you can distract her with something else besides eating...she may open her mouth like a little bird (like my dd does now!!)

[Marisa's Mom]

Sorry to hear about her bad association with the high chair. DD learned real quick that there was food when she sat in her high chair. There was one time when we went out to a restaurant. Usually we hold on to her for as long as we can, and only put her in the restaurant high chair when food arrives at the table (to minimize the amount of time DD would have to sit in the high chair, she gets restless). Well this one time, while I was holding her, she actually leaned towards the highchair next to me, WANTING to get in it. It was like she knew she had to sit there if she wanted food, and it was her feeding time at that time, so it kinda made sense. I just thought it was kinda cute that she wanted to get into the highchair.   I hope your DD eventually makes the connection that highchair=food.